London cocoa futures ended lower on Tuesday as fund selling outweighed scale-down buying from industry, traders said.
Front-month December lost five pounds to close at 823 a tonne after trading between 836 and 818 pounds.
"There's been fund selling for a week now," said one trader. "Really all you can do is hope there is something wrong with the crop and that prices will move higher."
Bean values in London have shed about eight percent during the past month as funds cut back their holdings and concern about dry weather in West Africa during June and July dwindled.
Turnover on the front-month position reached 2,513 from a session total of 8,160.
Activity has recently been curtailed as participants await the start of the new main crop season in Ivory Coast.
Scheduled to start on October 1, it has been delayed because levies paid by farmers to industry bodies have not been agreed yet.
Average cocoa prices paid to farmers in Ivory Coast were mostly higher at the end of September, data from marketing body (BCC) showed on Tuesday, according to a Reuters report from Abidjan.
Still, some farmers are holding back till the new indicative farmgate prices marking the opening of the season are fixed.